Company Announcement - Floor grating products from Andrew Mentis have set the benchmark in South Africa, according to Elaine van Rooyen, marketing manager at Andrew Mentis. These highly engineered products have been used by local and international companies for more than 40 years. They are manufactured in a world class facility at Elandsfontein, Johannesburg, to ISO 9001:2008 standards, using a pressure locking system pioneered by the company.

The two main floor grating products from Andrew Mentis are Rectagrid RS40 and Gripweld. RS40 is a premium brand produced by means of compressive pressure locking of bearer bars and transversals to form a pitch of 40 mm by 40 mm. Gripweld on the other hand features transverse bars fusion welded into the bearer bars. RS40’s non-slip characteristics are due to the positive raised sections that create multi-directional obstructions on the top of each bearer bar, allowing for a far larger surface contact area. Non-slip grating and serrated grating products from Andrew Mentis are prominent in industries from petrochemical to mining, where stringent safety requirements are critical in product selection. Grating is available in mild steel, galvanised, 3CR12 and stainless steel for a variety of applications and environmental challenges.

“Andrew Mentis has also developed a range of corrosion-resistant floor grating ideally suited to the extreme conditions found in wastewater treatment plants. All products in this range are designed and engineered to suit situations where the strength to weight ratio is important, such as wastewater treatment plants,” van Rooyen says. The non-slip characteristics of Andrew Mentis floor grating are effective in all directions, in all finishes and work well for both leather- and rubber-soled safety shoes. In addition the self-cleaning properties of this grating prevent dirt build-up. Quality control is stringent to ensure tight tolerances are maintained during the manufacturing process and that the round transversal bars fit snugly in the punched bearer bars. This intersectional locking method is designed to utilise the entire depth of the bearer bar when calculating loads.

Andrew Mentis floor grating is engineered to take specific loading, which ensures optimum safety of people walking or working in those areas. A complete understanding of the load bearing capacity of grating is necessary to ensure that the correct floor grating is selected for a specific application. The company meets with clients to determine their precise needs, after which the processing department compiles the layout of required products according to structural drawings supplied. “The best way to ensure the structural integrity of floor grating is for customers to align themselves with a manufacturer that has designed and engineered the product to attain predetermined tolerances,” van Rooyen says. Andrew Mentis pays scrupulous attention to the strict criteria it has established for its floor grating products. Non-negotiable factors include the fact that the transversals must be positively and permanently locked to the bearer bars.

“In addition, there must be no cracks or crevices at intersections which could harbour corrosion. The locking method at the intersections should be designed to use the full depth of the bearer bar when calculating loads. Finally, the grating panels should be flat, square and untwisted. Safety in the workplace simply cannot be compromised,” van Rooyen explains. An emphasis on safety underpins the development of all Andrew Mentis floor grating products. “Corrosion and damp can weaken floor grating and result in inadvertent slips, trips or falls, which impacts negatively on productivity as unnecessary downtime is incurred,” van Rooyen concludes.